Envelope or container



A'prii 16, 1935. c. E. CATHER ET A1.

ENVELOPE OR CONTAINER FiledAug. 24, 1932 wlw" 14./ Gamm Patented Apr. 16, 1935 UNITED STATES vENVELOPE .OR CONTAINER Charles E. Gather and Harry W. GordoinWo'rcesf .k

ter, Mass., assignorsto UnitedStates Envelope Company, Springfield, y Maine Y yapplication au'gst 24",l

2 (Al'laiins.I v(

The present invention relates generally to. envelopes Aor containers, land more particularly to such yarticles vof the whereanedge of the locking-tongue type, i. e., closure flap is insertable in "'5 a slit of Ithe :envelope wall, to retainsaid ilap in CII closedxposition. rThe invention involves, among other thingsan improved and simplified ,con-y struction and arrangement of the nap-retaining instrumental-ities; in

.another of its aspects, the

invention obtainsV particularadvantages in envelopes or containers made from stiff relatively unbendable'material Asuch as heavy cardboard or the like-such heavy board-like `envelopesbeing used, for example, to

articles,y such as fine liable to damage rby inclose and protect certain photographs that would be bending or bruising if inclosed in nan envelopemade of ordinary stock ormateriail. Qther and further objects and advantages of the invention will be made rapparent by the following detailed description thereof,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich-f Fig. 1 is a plan View of an open envelope or container embodying the invention and made from heavy stili cardboard. y f

Fig. 2 shows the envelope of Fig. l in closed position.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary View in end elevation, showing the manipulation of the closure flap, in the act of inserting its locking tongues.

Fig. Vl is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. l.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures. y

Referring to the drawing, the envelope therein illustrated, made from thick stii relatively inilexible material such as heavy cardboard or the like, may be formed in the usual way with front and back walls I and 2, the latter, as here shown,

consisting of inwardly folded flaps 3 and 4, that are overlapped at their meeting edges in the usual fashion and adhesively secured together to provide a seam 5. The

bottom of such envelope is closed by a ilap 6, projecting from the iront wall I and folded inwardly and adhesively secured to the back wall 2. At the open mouth 'I of the Venvelope, the material of the front wall I is extended to provide a closure flap 8, the latter beingV foldable on the line 9 to close the mouth l, for the retention of the envelopes contents.

To make this closure eiective, so that the flap 8 will be held securely in its folded-down position, without danger of springing open and exposing or releasing the contents of the envelope, the backl wall 2 provides a pair are somewhat nearer of spaced slits I0, I0, which the fold line 9 than the free Mass., a corporation of' 193,2, Serial No. 630,179; l

Cl; 229-454)` 'l .y y, y

edgeportions of ilap 8fthat arefalined withsaid slits. :That is to say, said flap 8,V at least .at the end portions thereof v which lievopposite the ,slits It, It is of a widthsuch;thatsaid.endportions, in the form Yof tonguesor'extensions I I, I.I;o.f.sub,1-4 stantially the saine A length .as l.the slits" l0, .IIL- will extend downwardly pastu said-.slits vwhen lthe flap is folded on the line 9. Thus iffthe flap 8, in the act of folding online 9, be bent or flexed, so astesherteeihe ds'aagehetiveen line .91ans the free outer edges of 'tongues II, II, said free outer edges may be entereduin the slits I0, I IJ, whereupon the atemngout o f said flap ,s .in .its folded-.down position will project ,Saidtonslles it, Il wcompletely into said slits Il), It Vfor the effective retention of said ap in its closed position" '1 L.. r: i. feerelolv., est; Qff the .slits "il, l 0 ,inclined upwardly in the direction of the adjacent side edge of the envelope; in other words, each slit It, instead of being parallel to the-outer free edge of its associated ins'ertable tongue II, is oblique to said outer free edge, so that the outer corner I2 of each tongue Il is the portion which initially enters the slit. By thus making said initial entry with a point or corner of the tongue Il, rather than with the full width of the tongue (as would be the case if the slits were parallel to the outer free edges of the tongues) the act of inserting the tongues in the slits is greatly facilitated, since the initially entered corner I2 in each case constitutes in effect an entering wedge that materially assists the progressive entrance into the slit of the remainder of the free outer edge of the tongue, Yuntilnally the entire tongue is entered, and the flap 8 is flattened out in the closed and locked position shown in Fig. 2.

Such closure of the flap 8, in an envelope made from stiff, thick relatively unbendable material, presents this difficulty, namely, that manipulation of saidy flap t', so as to register the edges of the tongues I I with the slits I8, is impossible because the material of said flap is so stiff that any resort to` temporary bending or flexing of said` flap, such as avails when theenvelope is made from ordinary stock, is not practical. That is to say, when the flap 8 is foldeddown onthe score line 9, the free outer edges of the tongues I I, I I will normally lie well below and beyond the slits It, I, and any attempt to enter said edges in said slits involves so much bending and distortion of the heavy material of said tongues as to make the latter dogeared in a very short time, thus rendering them ineffective as a locking means for the closure ap,

envelope and making it unfit for further use.. To overcome these diinculties in an envelope made of stii, relatively unbendable material, said closure ap 8, at or slightly inwardly of the base of the tongues Il, H, is made with one or more fold or score lines 20, running its entire width,-this enabling the flap, in the act of closing the same, to assume the position shown in Fig. 3, so that the corners I2, l2 of the tongues can, without distortion or breaking of the material, be readily registered with the slits I0, l; thereupon, by pressing downwardly on the ridge thus formed at 2U when the corners i2, l2 are entered, the flap 8 can be flattened out7 as such pressure gradually forces the tongues into the locked position shown in Fig. 2. When so flattened out, the flap 8, offers effective resistance against any opening force applied in an upward direction at the exposed edge I9 midway of the tongues Il, Il, such force tending to draw the inner side tongues into binding contact with the inner ends I8, I8 of the slits l0, l0; In order to get the nap 8 open without such binding and resistance, said nap must be seized at its opposite ends adjacent the score linev2v0 and *bent uniformly on said score line until the tongues Il, Il are drawn clear of said slits I0, I0. i

We claim: i

l. An envelope of the class described, made of relatively stiff iniiexible material, and having a closure ilap of similar' material, with a score line at the juncture of said closure flap and the envelope body, to allow theV closure nap, when folded down over the envelope mouth, to lie substantially at against a wall of the envelope, said wall having cut therein a slot through which vthe free edge of said closure ap is given entrance, in a downward direction, to the interior. or the en:

edges of the velope pocket, for the locking of said ilap in its closed position, said slot being closer to said score line than said free edge, and the closure iiap being itself scored transversely between said score line and said free edge, Vto permit the entry of said free edge in said slot without distortion of the stiff inflexible material of said closure ap. v

2. An envelope of the class described, made of relatively stiff inflexible material, and having a closure ilap of similar material, with a score line at the juncture of said closure flap and the envelope body, to allow the closure flap, when folded down over the envelope mouth, to lie substantially flat against 'a wall of the envelope, said wall near the envelope mouth having cut therein a pair of spacedV slots, both sloped downwardly and inwardly relative to the boundary edges of the envvvelope, and giving entrance to the envelope pocket, and said closure ap providing at opposite ends ofV its freeedge a pair of spaced tongues adapted for registry with and entrance downwardly into said slots, for locking said ap in closed position, the initially-entering corners of said tongues being appreciably further away from said score'line than the correspondingvportions of said slots, and said closure ap being itself scored transversely between said tongues and said score line, to permit of bending of said nap, without distortion of its stii inflexible material, for the entry of said tongues corners in said slots, whereby subsequent pressure on said bent flap to flatten the same procures the downward passage of said tongues through said slots into the Venvelope pocket, to lock said flap in closed position. 35'

CHARLES E. CATHER. HARRY W. vGORDON. 

